Thursday, October 6, 2011

Are the Vols invading UGA recruiting territory and exporting these valuable commodities north to Tennessee? Well not exactly, but they are plucking quite a few Georgia peaches. While scanning the Volunteer roster yesterday afternoon I was surprised to see a much larger number of Georgia natives than I expected, especially amongst the starters.

Of Tennessee’s 22 starters, 5 are from the state of Georgia. That number includes offensive play-makers WR Da’ Rick Rogers (who accounts for 33% of UT’s receiving yardage) and starting RB Tauren Poole (who accounts for 72% of UT‘s rushing yardage). Also starters Ja’Wuan James (OL), A.J. Johnson (LB), and Brent Brewer (SS) hail from the home of Jimmy Carter. That’s 23% of the starting lineup. I know, I was shocked as well. Additionally there are another 14 members of the current roster listing Georgia as home. In contrast UGA has only three members of its football team from Tennessee in Marlon Brown, and Hunter and Austin Long.

Now I knew the University of Kentucky relied heavily on players from the Peach State, but it’s Kentucky, which is basically devoid of high school football talent.

Will it be a successful homecoming for the
Tennessee native?

It appears that the trend of Georgia prep recruits making the exodus north will continue as 5 of UT’s current 17 commitments for the class of 2012 are from Georgia. Concurrently UT also has 26 remaining targets from the state. Conversely UGA has zero recruits from Tennessee and only list 2 targets among its remaining offers. Georgia is a much more fertile recruit ground than is Tennessee. This point is backed up by the fact that only one member of the Rivals100 is from the Volunteer State and five are currently listed from Georgia.

Is Tennessee really that poor at producing talent? Maybe, but apparently Georgia is simply a hotbed for talent and UT and other institutions have taken notice. Locking down our boarders to these infidels should be priority number one, because as you can see, it would severely handicap schools like Tennessee’s ability to perform at a high level. Anyway Saturday will provide these Georgia Vols with a chance to face the school they either spurned or were spurned by. Lets hope all the Peach State guys that decided to stay home to attend college come out on top!